How to compute scipy sparse matrix determinant without turning it to dense?

Question

I am trying to figure out the fastest method to find the determinant of sparse symmetric and real matrices in python. using scipy sparse module but really surprised

Answer 1

The "standard" way to solve this problem is with a cholesky decomposition, but if you're not up to using any new compiled code, then you're out of luck. The best sparse cholesky implementation is Tim Davis's CHOLMOD, which is licensed under the LGPL and thus not available in scipy proper (scipy is BSD).